After years of flea markets and garage sales I can conclude that Belgians buy rather a cheap chinese pocket knife for one euro than a quality knife for 10 euro. Last weekend was once again one of the many markets without a Swiss army knife. The best thing I could find was a Chinese knife with a main blade you can bend without any effort. I've seen them all. The design looks familiar, but the quality.... Oh my god.... I can't believe that someone is willing to spend money on this... A few months ago I went to a flea market in Holland and without any effort I found 2 brand new Vics for an acceptable price. Too bad this is impossible in Belgium.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

If this is one of the main reasons you're collecting knives, i would suggest another hobby, but for the other part, looking for an aditional value of collecting... you've found the right place! There are a few key-ingredients for a valuable pocket knife. Here we go....

*Genuine Victorinox? : Look for the Victorinox/Elinox/Elsener/Victoria logo at the main blade! Don't be satisfied by the swiss logo on the scales! This is ALLWAYS a forgery if the main blade inscription is missing. Once you open the knife, an you know the quality of a real one, you'll feel the difference!

*Backspring : Is it broken or isn't there any resistance when you open up the blades?

*Main blade/small blade : Look for amateur-sharpening. You'll notice this when you look at the sharp edge. If it's a millimeter of scharpened edge, it'll probably be ok, but when there's more, and the edge is scratched, there's a chance that the blade is shortened by years of severe sharpening.

*Scales : Are the scales damaged beyond repair? Cracks can be repaired, but it's difficult! Small scratches can be easily repaired!

There are a few websites (look right at the links-section) with detailed info for dating your Vic. A few things make it more valuable.

*Collectability : Is it a limited run, a damast edition or part of a wanted collection?

*Age : The older its gets .... It isn't allways true, but mostly this rule can be applied! Look at the condition.

*Fool's money : We have a clear rule in Belgium... It's worth wat the fool is willing to pay for it! Find someone with the right interests and he'll buy it. Don't exaggerate! Everyone has his limits...

*Ebay : Look at Ebay for a reference. There are a lot of Vics out there and it's easier to see wat others are willing to pay for it!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Whenever I buy an used Victorinox, I'm a little bit dissapointed about the lack of respect the previous owner had for it. The metal looks either bent or scratched beyond repair... The plastic scales are often in the worst shape. Cellidor has the tendency of attracting scratches. Use your knife as a "pocket" knife and within a month, you'll see the result on the scales. Well, today we're gonna talk about removing those surface-scratches. When the scales are dent, it's almost impossible to get them brand new without removing the Victorinox logo or print.

I use a car-scratch remover paste. Any other polishing paste will do. Don't use sanding paper, or aggressive chemicals!!! Start off with cleaning the surface. This is important because when you don't, the dirt will often crawl between every nasty scratch or opening it'll find. Next up is wrubbing a lot with a firm movement. Use a microfibre cloth. this will give the most reliable result. Clean the scales with some paper towels after a few minutes. You'll feel the burn in your wrist! Believe me! The result is incredible, without removing any of the logo's or prints! DONT DO THIS WITH SURFACE PRINTED SCALES! **only with metal inlayed logo's or prints** Good luck! Here are some pictures...UPDATE : When the scratches are too deep, you can use steelwool and wrub it firmly against the scales till you see the red cellidor powder on your steelwool. After the surface is scratchless again, you use the same method as mentioned above. This should give back that lost shine. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD ON SURFACE PRINTS, only metal inlaid logos or figures!

It looks like these scales are already polished, but believe me, they were dull and filled with surface scratches. After the polishing, you'll get back that brand new look. A real mirror finish...

Don't use too much paste! The excess will get between the layers and tools...

Wrub the paste in the cloth before you touch the scales. This is to even the paste surface.

My wife and I went a few weeks ago to the Victorinox factory in Ibach and the brand store/museum in Brunnen. I didn't see the factory interior, but payed a visit to the factory store instead. The brand store/museum was worth the visit, but the museum was small and, well, the interactive display was LOUD! When we arrived at the museum, there was allready a guided tour going on, but in swiss language. We didn't understand it, so we went looking for one of the many interesting items there. One of them is the huge interactive display on one of the walls with an small touchscreen in front. Press on one of the key-dates and you get a friendly voice giving you the details of that date. What we didn't know, was that the voice was a little bit loud... We pressed it and the guide starts talking even louder. Everybody was looking at us. Oh my god, i was soooo emberassed... Luckily, after a minute it stopped...

The factory store was smaller than I imagined, but had the amount of knives I was expecting. Beautiful set-up, and cheap! I got an overall 10% discount on prices that were allready low! This trip is highly recommended if you're a sak-nut. The wife was satisfied by the beautiful scenery (mountains, lakes,...) and we're even considdering a second trip next year. We did this trip in two days (1400 km). A little bit too short, but it was an impulsive decision... Here are the pictures...

I started collecting knives a few years ago, but the interest came from an unusual source... In my childhood years, I allways went twice a year on a vacation. Once with the grandparents and once with my parents. My grandfather had a strange interest in knives and bought the occasional pocket or hunting knife, but never collected them. As a kid, I was amazed by the beauty and craftsmanship of each knife. After a few years I got my very first knife. A cheap ass chinese folding knife. I'll never forget. But, oh , I felt strong! I was Rambo himself... After a year or so, I collected 10-15 knives, but the interest faded away...... I tought.... About 5 years ago I started over again and bougt a survival knife.... Right now, I own 150 military/hunting/survival knives and about 80 Victorinox pocket knives. I was amazed, once again!

My main interest now, are the Victorinox pocket knives, but I still keep looking for the more common knives...

Welcome

**PRESENTATION**

Hi, I'm Jeroen, born in Tongeren, the oldest city of Belgium on 19 februari 1981. My main hobby is collecting knives, and lately that changed to almost only Victorinox... After traveling to the SAK's birthplace, my hunger for more grew and I started this blog to answer your questions and mainly learn from other collectors like you... I hope you like the blog and if you do,please be so kind to leave a message in the guestbook after your visit.

The history in a nutshell...

The company was founded in 1884. Since 1891, the company has delivered knives to the Swiss army. Their famous emblem—a cross in a shield—has been used by Victorinox since 1909. That year, the mother of founder Karl Elsener died and he named the company "Victoria" in her honour. In 1921, with the introduction of "inox" into their products, the brand and name of the company became the present "Victorinox" ("Victoria"+"Inox").

Additionally, Victorinox claims never to have had to fire or make redundant an employee for economic reasons. To do this they set aside profits during boom periods to supplement recessionary periods, as well as temporarily contracting employees to other companies as outsourced labour during recessions.

In 2006 the company had a workforce of 900 employees and produced about 34,000 Swiss Army knives, 38,000 multi-tools, and 30,000 household, kitchen, and knives per workday. Approximately 90 percent of its production is exported, to more than 100 countries.